The Next Step
by VinylSolution
Summary: Makoto takes the next big step towards her future. Hope you enjoy reading! /2gjSoXL


Makoto Niijima walked into the testing center, her bag full of all the essential tools she needed. Her heart was racing. This was it. This was the big moment. The entrance exams that she spent a big piece of her life studying for. They were finally here. She took a deep breath, looking at her phone one last time.

Haru: Do your best, Mako-Chan!

Ryuji: Show those tests who's boss!

Ann: I believe in you!

Yusuke: If anyone will ace those tests, it's you.

Futaba: You got this, advisor!

Sae: Good luck, Makoto. I'm proud of you no matter what happens.

Makoto smiled. She was so grateful meeting such wonderful friends over the past year. Her phone buzzed again while it was in her hand.

Akira: You can do this. I love you.

She put her phone back into her purse, shutting it off. She walked into the classroom she was assigned to, her mind full of knowledge and determination. She took her seat and took out an empty notepad, a pencil, a pen, and her favorite calculator. The test booklets were passed out, The timer was set, and the test had begun.

Thanks to her rigorous studying, the strict schedule she was placed under by her sister, and her constant tutoring sessions with her boyfriend, she managed to breeze through most of the topics, giving herself plenty of time to go over each section thoroughly, leaving her feeling very confident. There was even an ethics essay about the Phantom Thieves! Makoto slyly smirked to herself as she wrote page after page regarding the topic. Who knew those hours in Mementos would've helped her in her studies?

The final egg timer went off. She put her pencil down and grabbed her wrist, rubbing it. She may have overdone it on those essay questions, but it was worth it. Her test was collected by the monitor. "You will receive an email about your results within 24-48 hours, sent to the address listed on your application. That will be all." Makoto sighed to herself. It was almost over. All she needed to do was wait for the results, and her future would be locked in for life. She could be a police commissioner just like she had always wanted. She turned on her phone and sent a message to Akira.

Makoto: It's over. Would you mind if I stopped at Leblanc? I feel really tired…and I just want to see you..

Akira: Sounds great. I'll be waiting for you.

Makoto put her phone away and dragged herself to the train station. Unloading on that test really took it out of her. But she was excited for the results. She had brought it up with Akira beforehand, but she was planning on going outside of Tokyo for her university. After all, he was leaving. And she didn't want to be without him. She couldn't even explain it to herself, but Akira was really the center of her universe. Everything about him just made her happy. Even thinking about him made a subconscious smile creep across her face. The train had arrived and Makoto managed to find a seat. She yawned, rubbing her eyes as the train departed, making its way to Yongen-Jaya.

Makoto yawned again as her head bobbled. Her eyelids began to get heavy as she leaned back and drifted off to sleep. She began dreaming about coming home to her luxury apartment. Makoto could immediately smell her favorite dish being made. Blue back fish. She was dressed in a suit, with a badge attached to her hip. She removed her jacket, putting it on the coat rack. "I'm home!" she called out. She made her way to her kitchen, loosening her tie. "Hey, how was work?" Akira was cutting up the fish, preparing it for her. "It was great! We took down a syndicate today."

"Wow, that is great. They should've known not to cross Commissioner Kurusu."

Makoto chuckled and blushed. She still wasn't used to the name.

"And how was business today?"

Akira looked over at the coffee pot, which was now boiling. He put his cutting knife down and went to pour his wife a cup of coffee.

"A bit hectic. People just can't get enough of the new curry dish!"

"Oh, that's wonderful." Makoto inhaled sharply, taking in the smell of the fish & coffee. "I don't blame them, you're such a great cook!" Akira smiled and said "YONGEN-JAYA. THIS IS YONGEN-JAYA."

Makoto's eyes shot open, looking straight at the train door, which had swung open. She jumped out of her seat and ran out, the door closing on the tip of her bag. She yanked it out, the door opening again and closing quickly. She panted. That was a jolt of energy she wasn't expecting. She made her way to the alleyway, taking in the familiar sights. She had grown accustomed to Yongen since she started dating Akira. It was a quaint neighborhood, small and humble. A perfect place for such a wonderful cafe. She walked through the door, the bell attached ringing behind her.

"Sis…!" Makoto gasped. Both her big sister and her boyfriend were sitting together at a table. She walked over to the two of them, Akira moving over to make room for her. She smiled and sat down next to him. "Secret's out, huh?", she said, trying to keep her cool. She never really publicized her relationship, she was a private kinda girl. But seeing both Sae and Akira together, she just assumed the worst. Sae gave a knowing chuckle.

"I've known for a while. For a pair of Phantom Thieves, you're not very good at covering your tracks." Makoto blushed and looked away. "But now that you're here, we can talk about that." Sae's eyes narrowed, looking over at Akira. He swallowed nervously.  
Sae folded her arms and held that stern look. Makoto knew immediately that was her sister's 'interrogation face'. "What are your intentions with my sister?" Makoto put her hand on Akira's knee. She could see that Akira immediately felt less tense thanks to her touch.

"They're pure, I promise. I…I'm in love with her."

"Can you provide for her?"

"I have 10 million yen."

Sae's eyes widened, her stern look wavering. "W-what?"

"I have 10 million yen."

"O-Oh…I see.."

Makoto was watching this exchange in awe. Nobody could ever get Sis that flustered, not even in the courtroom! After all this time, he always found new ways to surprise her.

"I feel like after our…previous encounter that I have a good grasp on your morals. I know you're a good person, and with this, um, financial incentive, I think Makoto would be in good hands dating you. I approve of your relationship." Akira let out a sigh of relief. "But if you manage to hurt her in any way…", Sae growled, slamming the table. "Let's just say I'm proficient in kickboxing." Akira gulped nervously.  
"You don't have to threaten him, sis!" Makoto cried out. "Akira's a really smart guy. I think he understands." Sae sat back down, satisfied with the results. "Well then. What do you say you treat us to a meal?"

"Y-yeah, okay." Akira mumbled, still feeling a bit flustered Makoto got up so he could attend to the back area, making sure to make the finest plate of curry he could. That woman knew how to put fear into a man's heart. Makoto looked away from Akira and back to her sister. Sae's expression relaxed now that she wasn't in interrogation mode. "How did your entrance exams go? Was there anything that may have stumped you?"

"Not at all! I'm feeling more confident about my results. I went over every subject and every question."

"I'd expect nothing less from you. When should you learn about the results?"

"In a few days. I'll get an email telling me my placement."

"That's definitely worth celebrating. With your high score, you'll be able to go to a top school in Tokyo, and land a high paying positi-"

"Yeah, about that…" Makoto interrupted, rubbing the back of her head nervously. She wasn't looking forward to bringing this up with her, but now felt like as good a time as any to bring it up.

"Hm?"

"I was talking with Akira and…" the words got lodged in her throat. "I, uh…"

"She's looking to move in with me once I go back to the suburbs, and wants to go school outside of Tokyo." Akira said, putting the pots on the burner and turning on the gas.

"What?!" Sae wasn't expecting to be thrown for so many loops tonight. "But you just started dating! You shouldn't be moving in together so suddenly!" Makoto cleared her throat. That push from Akira helped her speak again.

"We've been dating since last August. A-and now that I've graduated high school, I don't have anything tying me to Tokyo any longer. And with me gone, it'll ease the financial burden you've had. Sis, there's always Tohoku! Or Nagoya! I just…" Makoto looked down. "That month without him hurt a lot. And…I don't wanna be without Akira anymore."

Sae looked over at Akira, who was busy preparing Leblanc's signature curry dish, and back to Makoto. She put her hands on the chin, elbows on the table. She didn't want to see Makoto go…but she wasn't just her little sister anymore. She was a woman who needed to do more than live in her shadow. And she was right, money would be less tight if she was only supporting herself…Sae sighed. I wonder what dad would do if faced with this, she thought.

She leaned back, her expression softening. "Makoto." Makoto looked up immediately. "I could not be more proud of the woman you've become. You're strong, compassionate, unyielding, with a need to always do what's right. And you're right. You should go and live your own life. It won't be the same without you around the apartment, I'll admit." she said with a smirk. Makoto's eyes welled up with joy. "S-sis!" she went over to the other side of the booth and hugged her sister tight, squeezing her. "Thank you so much! You're the best…" Sae managed to dislodge her arm from Makoto's absurdly strong grip to pat her on the head. As much as she'd matured and grown up, Makoto would always be her little sister.

"I, uh, hate to interrupt this heartwarming moment, but the food's ready." Akira chuckled, sprinkling the spices onto the 3 dishes. He served the girls first. "The curry for you, madame~", he said, winking at Makoto. Makoto's smile never left her face. "And for you, miss." Sae kept her arms folded, but she did smile at Akira. "Well, if your cooking tastes as good as it smells, I shouldn't worry about Makoto going hungry." she chuckled to herself. Makoto scooted over to make room for her boyfriend, who came back with his own dish. The two of them watched Sae, as she took a spoonful of the curry and rice. She put the spoon in her mouth and involuntarily moaned. "Mmm…!" Akira felt himself ease up for what felt like the millionth time that night. "This is delicious! This may be even better than Sakura's curry."  
The three of them continued eating, the only noise being heard was the clanking of the spoons against the plate, and the moans coming from Sae. There wasn't a moment when her mouth wasn't full of Akira's delicious curry. Once she was finished, she pushed the plate aside and let out a sigh of satisfaction, her hands on her stomach. "How was it?" Akira asked, already knowing the answer. Sae smirked. "Are you sure I can't come with you two?" Makoto chuckled, finishing her own plate of curry. This was even better than she could've possibly anticipated. Her sis and her boyfriend were getting along great. And she even said it was okay to move in with him! The future she'd been planning for may have finally started.

The next day, Makoto had packed up all her old textbooks, her clothes, everything she owned. She looked back at her room, now only her futon remained. She smiled, thinking back on when she and her sister got that thing. It was only supposed to be temporary until they were able to afford something better for her. Makoto then felt a warm hand on her shoulder. "I'm going to miss you, Makoto." Makoto turned around to look at her sister. "You can stop by anytime you like! I'll give you the address!"

"I promise to do that. There's no way I'm gonna spend the holidays without you."

Makoto smiled, wiping tears from her eyes. "I wouldn't let you anyway." Makoto hugged her big sister, wiping her tears on Sae's blouse. Sae gently rubbed her back, fighting back tears herself.

"I love you, Makoto."

"And I love you, Sis!"

After what felt like an eternity, but not long enough in Makoto's eyes, she had to let go. The two of them loaded up her newly purchased Citroen H van, and Makoto took off. She sniffled again. It wasn't a goodbye, she told herself. But she knew she had to get moving, quickly! She wanted to surprise Akira with the van, so she had to get to Shibuya as quick as possible before he went to the train station.  
She couldn't believe her own delinquent behavior. She had run multiple red lights just to make sure she made it on time! She pulled over to the side of the road once she made it to the station, keeping her eyes out for Akira. She saw him instantly. On the corner of the block. She got out of the van and started waving to him, frantically. "H-hey! Akira!" but he didn't see her. Damn!, she thought. She had to say something that would get his attention. Thankfully the girl who never fumbled with her words knew the exact thing to say.

"I've always loved you, Akira!"

That's when he looked over, his face completely red. It was a rare sight to see him blush. Makoto was jumping up and down, waving her arms. She started laughing, her plan working perfectly. He walked over to her, carrying his Shujin bag behind his back, with his rolling suitcase not far behind. "Now you know what it feels like." she chuckled, his mouth partially agape. "W-when did you get this van? It looks just like Morgana." His bag started to shake as a familiar head popped out of the bag. "What looks like m-woah! It's a big grey me! How'd you do that, Makoto?" She leaned against the van, satisfied with herself. "I wanted to get us a car, something special that commemorates a very special time in our lives. And there's vans out there that looked like the Mona van. So I thought 'hey, only fitting, right'? And when we get everybody back together, we won't have to worry about space! I wasn't gonna let us go on a boring old train anyway."

"Wow, you've really thought this through."

"O-of course I did. This is really special to me."

Akira smiled and kissed his girlfriend, holding the kiss for longer than normal. It was Morgana who broke the silence. "Bleh! Are you two gonna be like this for the whole trip?!"

"Keep up that attitude and you're going right back to Leblanc. Do you wanna have your face pinched by Futaba?" Makoto said, waving her finger at Morgana.

Morgana muttered something incoherent and put his head back into the bag. Akira put his suitcase in the back seat, strapping it in, along with putting his Shujin bag down, unzipping it so Morgana could roam around the van as he pleased. He got into the passenger's seat next to Makoto as they took off together. Akira took in the sights of Shibuya one final time as they drove away from the city and onto the highway. He leaned back in his seat, smiling. He was looking through the sunroof at the sunny skies above him. After what felt like an eternity of silence, he looked at Makoto, and said "You know, I'm glad that things turned out the way they did. I'm glad you caught us."

"You are? I hated that time in my life. I hated hanging on the Principal's every word. Being his…his lapdog!"

"But if you weren't, you wouldn't be a Phantom Thief."

"I suppose…"

"And we wouldn't be together."

"Y-yeah." she smiled. She always prided herself on being the smarter of the two of them, but there were times when Akira's intelligence even outshined hers.

"My sweet stalker~" Akira teased. He put his hand on Makoto's thigh, gently rubbing it.

"A-Akira! Please, I'm trying to concentrate on the road!", she said, blushing.

"What? It was cute having you follow me around like that. And it was even more fun losing you."

"So you knew I was following you that whole time?!" Akira flashed a sly smirk at Makoto, making her cheeks redden even more.  
Morgana hopped into the front seat.

"Oh yeah, he saw you coming from a mile away."

"Wh-huh?! But I was so clever, hiding in the crowd…"

"The only girl in the crowd that would hold a manga up to her nose and still manage to look over it.."

"Damn. I think I should've followed Ryuji instead. He would've never figured me out."

Akira and Morgana laughed.

"I'm glad I learned how to say no to Kobayakawa. To stand up on my own merits. Ann was really nice and helped me a lot when I was just starting out with you guys."

"What happened?"

"She came to the student council room and apologized for telling me off. And then she wanted to become friends."

Akira pretended to gasp and put his hand over his mouth "So 'The secret between girls' finally comes out!"

Makoto playfully punched his arm. "Oh, shut up." she giggled. Morgana ran across Makoto's lap and looked out the window. "So this is the suburbs…it's so pretty!" Akira looked out her window. Things were looking familiar, almost nostalgic. He was getting close to home. "Take this exit, right here." Makoto pulled off the highway, Morgana trotting his way back to his seat. She looked over at Akira, who was looking out the window, smiling.

"So I haven't asked before, but what was your home life like?" Akira didn't break contact with the window, but his smile faded. "Things were rough for a really long time. My dad, he lost his job when I was a kid, and he didn't take it well. He started drinking, hard. And kept gambling a lot of our money away. There was a long time where I wasn't sure if I was gonna have anything to eat. Debt was piling up, and that's when my mom divorced him. He didn't leave without a fight, though. And he always made his fights with her public. He did love me, for what it's worth."

Makoto pulled over to the side of the road, unbuckled her seatbelt, and hugged Akira. She had never seen him so upset.

"Heh, thanks." Akira wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. "Things are much better now that everything's over. I think you'll like my mom."

"I hope she likes me."

"What's not to like?" Akira smirked. There's that cocky guy I fell in love with, Makoto thought. She got back into the driver's seat and got back on the road.

Akira gave Makoto directions until they pulled into an average sized home, sandwiched between other average sized homes. "So this is where you live?" Makoto asked. Akira nodded in response. "I'm home." He got out of the van and opened up the sliding door, getting his bags in first. Morgana hopped back into the Shujin bag. "You need to remember to act like a cat, okay Morgana?" Makoto said. "Yeah yeah, be really cute and meow a lot, I understand! It's not like she knows what I'm saying anyway…" He kept his head out as the bag was zippered around him.

Akira slid the door aside and walked through, taking his shoes off. "Hello? I-I'm home…" Akira called out. Makoto followed behind him, taking her shoes off as well. "Akira-kun?" a voice responded. A woman peeked out, her greying hair looking strikingly similar to Akira's. She walked fourth, hugging her son. "Oh, I'm so glad you're back! You look like a changed man. So handsome! And who is this lovely young lady?" she said, motioning over to Makoto. "This is Makoto Niijima. She's my girlfriend." Makoto bowed. "It is an honor to meet you, Ms. Kurusu."

"Such manners!" she smiled, admiring Makoto's respect. "And what about this little guy?" she noticed the cat peeking out of Akira's bag.

"Oh, this is Morgana. He followed me home one day. He's a good kitty." Akira's mother petted him as Morgana meowed and purred. He was pulling off the cat act pretty well.

"It sounds like you've had quite the eventful year, Akira-kun. You must be starved! Let's sit down and you can tell me everything over lunch."

"In a second, mom. I have to help Makoto with her things."

"Her things?"

"Oh yeah, she's moving in with me."

"Goodness! It'll be nice to have so many people again!"

Makoto had already left and come back with 2 boxes, stacked on top of one another. "Just bring those upstairs. That entire part is my room." Makoto nodded as she went up the stairs. She walked up the stairs to see a dusty room, but it was definitely Akira's. It felt like a more personal version of his attic bedroom. The bed even looked like his from Leblanc. She smiled as she put the boxes down. This is her new bedroom. Her new life with Akira. It felt good to think about. She then heard him come up the stairs, the remaining boxes in his arms. He grunted. "Aaah, is this okay?" Makoto chuckled as she took one of the boxes off the stack, freeing up his field of vision. "It's perfect." she put the box down and kissed his cheek.

After unpacking, the three of them went downstairs as Akira and Makoto told Akira's mom all about their escapades over the last year, save for a…few details. Mostly the Phantom Thief thing. But she was still captivated by their story. It went well into the evening. It was a lot of information to process, so Akira's mom had went straight to bed. Makoto washed the dishes as Akira had gotten out the cleaning supplies. They couldn't exactly sleep in a year's worth of dust, after all.

Once she washed the dishes and put them away, Makoto was walking up the stairs to their room. She liked the sound of that. Their room. She got to the top of the stairs to see Akira, already changed into his pajamas, lightly dusting his desk. He looked over at her. "What's got you all smiley?" he smirked. She didn't even realize she was smiling. She started unboxing her clothes to find her pajamas. A slim black top and white sweatpants. She felt nervous changing in front of her boyfriend, but they were gonna be sharing a bed. Akira kept dusting, replacing the old sheets in the bed with new ones. Makoto changed fully into her pajamas, keeping her bra on. She still wanted to remain a modest in front of him, after all.

"Wow, you look even cuter in pajamas." Akira chuckled. "Would you stop?" she pushed Akira away, making him fall onto the bed. Akira just laughed as he made his way under the covers. "Care to join me?" he smirked. Makoto was about to say something, and then her phone buzzed. It was the email she'd been waiting for! "M-my results are in!" Akira got over the covers and scrambled up to her. "What's it say?" Makoto read the email, her eyes started to well up. "I….I made it. I scored within the top .1 percent of all incoming students. I've been granted full academic scholarship to any university of my choice.." Akira beamed. "That's incredible! I knew you could do it." Makoto put her phone aside and kissed him deeply, her hand holding the back of his head. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. She wanted this moment to last for eternity. She didn't have a single worry in the world. All the nervousness, all the ambivalence was gone. All that was left, was hope. With a full scholarship to anywhere she wanted, and Akira by her side, she knew everything was gonna be okay.


End file.
